Darius I Sagi
Darius I was the eleventh monarch of Vicra. His reign was characterized by efforts to restabilize the Vicran economy, harmed by an embargo and the independence of Khovar. Early life Darius was born to Andro IV of Vicra in 25 DR, and was educated by Vicra's finest academics. He had little interest in rulership, so he instead concentrated on building a strong network of associates and advisors, in order that he could at least curate the governance of Vicra. Darius' personal interests mainly fell in the field of commerce: he was fascinated with the flow of goods through a society, especially one as import-dependent as Vicra was. When Andro IV made his state visit to Dorio in 45, Darius was placed in charge of administration during his absence. This gave Darius a chance to stress-test his fledgling cabinet, and he paid close attention to which of his associates were excelling or underperforming. As Vicra began to suffer under the Dorian embargo, Andro began turning to Darius to help the Vicran economy. Darius set to researching the issue, and found the state of agriculture in Vicra to be unsatisfactory. Vicra's poor agricultural output was frequently seen as inevitable given its rocky soil; Darius felt sure that he could circumvent the soil and improve yields, but met with little success. Then, after the breakaway of Khovar in 53, Darius was reassigned to lead Gratium's new Harbor Patrol. The Harbor Patrol allowed Darius to regulate sea trade and naval defense, a position he found fulfilling, and he remained there for the following seven years. Reign In 60 DR, Andro died and Darius came to power as Prince Darius I. Although the embargo had ended in 57, Vicra's economy continued to struggle, and Darius concluded that it would be necessary to reduce its dependence on outside goods. He delegated criminal justice entirely to his advisors, in order to better dedicate his time to research; after a few years of exploration, Darius decided to incentivize the creation of cottage industries on Kinan itself. Darius sought to provide monetary subsidies for newly founded workshops and manufactories, but as a large number of people immediately took advantage of this subsidy, two problems became clear. Supplying the requisite funds required a hike in taxes, and the creation of "pseudo-workshops" that produced few or no items necessitated oversight. These moves were unpopular, but they were needed to balance out the sudden drain that the industry subsidy had caused to Vicra's treasury. A corps of Workshop Overseers began operation in 66, and were quickly criticized as a heartless police force trying to shut down legitimate manufactories. In 71, the Dorian Empire established Heplianism as its state religion; Darius heard word of the Vazranist uprisings occurring in Dorio's provinces, and announced that Vicra would be a "safe shelter" for religious refugees. Dorio-Vicra relations, still strained at this point, were only harmed by this declaration; however, the arrival of Valat and Kenkori refugees in Vicra allowed for more artisanship to take place within Vicra. This initiative was largely seen as successful, although many Valat immigrants played key roles in a 76 riot against the Workshop Overseers. In 80, Darius revisited the question of Vicra's agricultural output. In consultation with Manipalt Huadza, a Kenkori academic, Darius began experimenting with using new species and rotations of crops; he released a statement in favor of rotating Kinaian and mainland crops, but did not reach any comprehensive conclusions before he died of pulmonary disease in 84. Personal life Darius married Delshad Anari in 45 DR. Delshad preferred to stay out of the public eye, and so there is not much written about their relationship. By all accounts, they seem to have been happy, and they had four children over the years. Darius' first two children were twin sons, Andro and Jamshid, born in 47. Andro was initially expected to succeed Darius, but he died of a fever in 50, leaving Jamshid as the heir apparent. Darius was badly shaken by Andro's death, and his grieving is thought to have impeded his agricultural research during the early 50s. Category:Vicrans Category:Sagi Family Category:Monarchs